Making sheet glass



w. 1 MoN'Ro, JR

MAKING SHEET GLASS Filed Feb. 24, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet Nov. 24, 1931.

Irflivl n Q. Q. 4.

W. L. MONRO, JR

MAKING SHEET GLAss Nov; 24, 1931.

Filed Feb. ,'24, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 dam around its to Patented Nov. 24, 1931 UNITED STATES rA'rEN'r OFFICE WHLIAM L. .IONRQ JR., 0F PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ABSIGNOB. T0 GLASS IACHIN'E COMPANY, 0F PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A. CORPORATION NEWJ'EBBEY IAXINGSHEETGLASB Application tiled February 241927. Serial Io. 170,501.

This invention relates to the making or sheet lass, and particularly to the making of glass y the well known Fourcault process.

At the present time there are two well known rocesses of making glass in sheet form. ne of these is the Fourcault rocess, and the other is the Libbey-Owens orI 8 process.

In the Colburn process the surface of a bath of glass is engaged by a suitable bait, and a sheet is drawn upwardly therefrom. The width of the sheet is maintained byrolls engaging the sheet edges. The line of generation of the bath is maintained in its position in part by the edge rolls, in part by coolers employed above the bath so as to cause a valley of temperature on the surface of the bath, but principally by a bendin roll over which the drawn sheet travels. T rocess is o en to numerous obj'ections, one o which is t at ordinarily only one machine is applied to a tank. This means that the fuel cost is ver high. p

In the ourcault process the glass, instead of bein drawn from the surface of a bath, is drawn rom the top of aslot formed in a clay olburn block known as a debiteuse. The debiteuse is of material depth and it is rovided with a The ebiteuse is de"- pressed in a molten ath until the glass wells up throu h the top of the slot. It is picked off b a ait to start a draw, and thereafter the s eet is drawn in a vertical direction only. It is not passed over a bending roll, as no bending roll 1s needed to maintain the osition of a line of generation, as in the olburn process.

v The Fourcault machine is superior to the Colburn machine in that several units may be applied toa sin le melting tank, thus economizing heat. owever, as the machines have been heretofore arranged, the conditions at one machine have materially affected the conditions at other machines. The usual Fourcault installation comprises a melting tank having means for supplying batch mate'rial at one end and having a neck at the other end by which molten glass may be withdrawn. The neck is connected to a long drawing chamber arranged at substantially -tieular machine.

through the glass, and the operation of all the right angles to the tank. Each side of the drawing chamber constitutes a se arate deadended bay and three or more mac ines are arranged n each bay with the tank of each machine extending across the drawing cham- 55 ber. Refractory shields are placed on each side of each tank these shields extendin from the cap of the drawin chamber an terminating several inches be ow the surface of the glass. The spaces between the shields' 00 of adjacent machines constitute chambers which are generally heated.

As above stated, the debiteuse is of consid- I erable depth and is generally immersed in' the glass to a depth of approximately eight il inches. The shields usually -extend into the glass about the same' distance. If we consider an imaginary horizontalplane contain-- ing the bottom of each debiteuse and the bottom of each shield, it will be seen that the 10 est .to the source of supply produce the best O0 glass and that the quality isA progressivel loweiied as the end machines are approached Another diiliculty which is encountered in ordinary operation arises from the fact that very frequentl the rising sheet breaks, and 88 in order to ma e ready to start another draw in the same unit, it is necessary to reheat the chamber containlng the debiteuse of that par-v The heat is conducted,

machines lying between the machine in tion and the end of the bay is affected.

is due to the fact that the glass must flow past the reheated machine in o rder to sup ly the machines lying closer to the end of t e bay. 95.

I provide an improved method and apparatus for supplying glass -to the several units in a Fourcault installation whereby the ualty of lass produced in all the units l be high.

It is a. fact how- 1I nstead of passing glass to certain of connected to a melting tank, and providing s' parate bays in the chamber wall, each having a single unit associated therewith. Means is preferably provided in each bay for V specially heating the glass in that space lying behind the deb1teuse and remote from the chamber. The pool of glass in thechamber is of such volume 'and is at such tem rature that reheating of one unit will leave t e other units substantially unaffected. None of the other units draws the lass which lies within the reheating zone and there issubstantially no pocketing of glass, as occurs in the ordinary installations.

In the ancompanyingr drawings which illustrate more or less diagrammatically the present preferred embodiment of my invention and one modification thereof,

Figure 1 is a horizontal section through a part of a melting tank having my invention applied thereto,

igure 2 is a view to enlarged scale showing one of the bays of Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a vertical section through one of the bays taken on the line III-III of Figure 2, and

Figure 4 is a view corresponding to Figure 1, but showin a modied structure.

Referring 'rst to Figures l to 3, there is shownaportionofa melting tank 2 connected to a chamber 3. rIlhe chamber 3 forms an extension of the tank 2. The tank 2 is provided with the usual means (not shown) for supplying batch -material, and is heated by o*as and air supplied through ports 4, the Iurnace being o the usual reversing type.

The chamber 3 is provided with a plurality of bays 5, each having associated therewith a se arate Fourcault drawing unit. Each bay as a cap 6 having an opening 7 formed therein. The opening 7 extends across the bay 5 and at each side is provided with a shield 8. Each shield terminates some distance below the surface of the glass G which lies in the hay. The chamber 9 which lies between the drawing unit and the end wall l0 of the bay is arranged to be heated, and for this purpose is provided with combustion ports 11. rlfhese ports are connected to checkers and are operated in the Same manner as an'ordinarv reversing furnace.

The space between the shields comprises the chamber containing the debiteuse 12. I

have shown liftin rolls 13, but have not illustrated the means or depressing the debiteuse in the glass, nor have I illustrated in any detail, the lifting mechanism, as this forms no part ci the present invention.

in operation the glass flows 'from the tank to the chamber 3 in substantially a straight Tine until, it reaches a bay 5, and is there taken 0E to supply the machine in that particular bay. T turbed in its dow and this results in a higher quality of product. The main stream is divided into smaller streams, each supplying an individual unit.

In the event that a rising sheet of glass in any of the units breaks, it is necessary to reheat the chamber between the shields 8 before another draw can be started. This is usually done by portable burners which are taken to the machine in question. With my construction', reheating at any machine has substantially no effect on any of the other units. This is due to the fact that the pool of glass lying in the chamber 3 is very, large relative to the amount of glass contained in any bay, and also due to the fact that the stream-like flow through the chamber 3 to an machine is not affected by whatever takes place in a smaller stream which has been diverted from the main stream.

Figure 4 illustrates a modified form of the invention. In this drawing, parts corresponding to similar parts in Figures l and 2 have been 'ven the same reference character with an a suiiixed thereto. In this form of the invention the chamber 3a is made relatively long and narrow so that a lar e number of machines can be placed on eacIi side. The same conditions will obtain in this installation as in the installation of Figures 1 to 3, although it may be desirable to specially heat the chamber. For this pur ose I provide orts 14. rlhe chamber 3 of Figure 1 is heated y radiation from the melting tank 2.

It will be noted that in both Figures 1 and 4 the machines are larranged in relatively closely spaced pairs. In each case, however, the arrangement is such that there is an open space on each side of each pair of machines of suiiicient size to accommodate a debiteuse. This arrangement is desirable because it permits of readily changing a broken debit-euse.

I have illustrated and described a preferred form of my invention, but it will be understood that 1t is not limited to this form alone.l as it may be otherwise embodied or practiced within the scope of the following claim.

I claim Apparatus for making sheet glass, including a chamber having a lurality of bays formed in the chamber wa 1 and adapted to receive glass from the chamber, and a single Fourcault sheet drawing unit associated with each bay, the bays being arranged in pairs with an open space on each side of a pair of bays at least as long as a debiteuse for a unit.l

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

WILLIAM L. MONRG, JR.

e glass is not unduly dis-. 

